Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-24
ABOUT THE THUMB.
Its Place and Peculiar Power In Human
Affairs.

Affairs.
LoudOn Telegraph.
On the length, strength, free lateral mo-
ton and perfect mobility of the thumb de-
ponds the power of the human hand. The
thumb is called pOlleX because of it's
strength, and that strength is necessary TO
the power of the hand, being equal to that
of all the fingers. Without the tleslIy ball
of the themb the power of the fingers
would avail nothing, and accordingly the
large ball formed by the muscles of the
thumb is the distinguished character o fthe
human hand.
The origin of the word "thumb" is prob
ably from the Sanscrit root taumi, to grow
large, and connected with the Latin tumeo,
to swell. In Anglo.SaXOn the word was
thuma, in Danish temmel finger, and il has
also been termed antidigit, from its posi-
ton and uses. The Greeks called it anti
CHER, or another hand. The Romans knew
it rs pOlleX, Il noun derived from the word
police, 10 be strong, to excel, thus indica-
ting both its general excellence and its
special superiority over the other compo-
nent parts of the hand.
The thumb is no mean member of the
human body, for in the brilliant days OF
Rome, when the multitude had to he
pleased by displays provided for them IN
amphitheatres, it had life and death ut its
command. A single movement, u slight
Infection of the joints one way or the
other, settled the fate of many a gladiator,
We have an acknowledgement of the IN
tire submission OF one person TO the strong.
er will of another in the term under
ones thumb" an expression that has be-
come classic, for does not the Edingburg Re
ricp say: "Gunhilda soon had him COM
pletely under her thumb; and instead of
his making her, she unmade him, and was
in every respect the evil genius of him and
his children" And Richardson, the
n~Oveljts also has. 'She is obliged to be
silent! l have her under my thumb"
The thumb has in past days played an
important part, too, in bargain-making.
Tacitus, for example, tells US that certain
barbarian kings, when they desired to
make II specially firm and lasting contract,
were III the habit of joining their right
II II b"loblhS ~ ObiiN y hbAib'
or tying them together with II cord, and
when the pressure forced the blood to APP
pear at the tips, they then pricked them
with some sharp instrument and mutually
sucked them. This act was doubtless
meant as an emblem TO express their de
sire To secure a lasting peace by extracting
the hot and frey blood from that member,
so important in handling arms. In later
times we find the Celtic and Gothic races
practising something like the same mode.
They sw0re upon the thumb. Thus Allan
Ramsay sings:
Though kith and kin aud a. should revile thee,
There's my thumb, III ne'cr beguile thee.
If two persons respectively licked or wet
ted their thumbs and joined the one to the
other the bargain or agreement was held to
he firm and binding. In Scottish records
DEGREES are To be found sustaining sales
upo OF thumb licking, the
fact of tina; ceremony having been gone
through ut the time of bargaining being
considered 10 constitute valid agreement.
Such was q custom really prevalent
among farmers aud tradesmen in that
country some fifty years ago in markets
and places of sale. The wet thumb was q
token of rectitude of intention seldom fall
sified, and the man who broke his word af-
ter confirming it by that sign was looked
upon as one whom no oaths could bind.
At one time, wearing a ring on the
thumb was a sign OF authority. The word
thumb ring occurs in Shakespeare, in
lst Henry ~, = and 4, where old Falstaff
says, "A plague of signing aud grief! II
blows a mar mp like q bladder. When |
was about thy years, Hal, / was MOI an
eagles talon in the waist; ! couid have
crept into an alderman's thumb ring"
Such an article was actually worn by those
civic f~nnctionaries in past days and per-
haps as q sign Of respect entertained for
the thumb itself. The ring of rings"-the
wedding ring-is now worn on the fourth
digit of the hand, perhaps from a notion
that was held by the ''leeches" of bygone
days and that an artery went from it
straight TO the heart; but no maternal an-
e~estors, leSs romantic, it would seem, than
their fair descendants, often wore that
charmed circlet on the thumb. Although
the ring was always placed on the fourth
finger in the church it was not always al
lowed To remain there. English ladies
were wont to transfer the golden fetter to
their thumbs, a custom perhaps originated
by some high born bride whose finger, like
that of Stockings heroine,
Wass 80 small the ring
Would not stay on which they did bring
1t was too wide a peck.
Shakespeare has a good many references
to the member nov under our considcra-
ton. In Romeo and Juliet we have
the expression "bite my thumb at Them"
meaning to feel dislike and yexation to
ward certain persons so indicated then,
and by many Of us in the same way now.
Anain. the thumb was fhonnht To ha an